Manama: Britain will open a permanent naval base in Bahrain as part of its commitment to tackle security threats in the region, under an agreement signed on Saturday evening by the foreign ministers of both countries at this week’s Manama Dialogue.
The base will help Britain and nurture its partnerships east of Suez, said Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond who was deliberately quoting the phrase last used in Harold Wilson’s government in the 1960s when Britain announced its intention to withdraw from its commitments in the Gulf.
“Britain sees the Gulf’s security the same as its own, and it sees the Gulf’s prosperity the same as its own”, said Hammond, describing how Britain sees its modern relationships with the Gulf states as partnerships of equals with shared interests.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said the deal “reaffirms our joint determination to maintain regional security and stability in the face of challenging circumstances”.
“Bahrain looks forward to the early implementation of today’s arrangement, and to continuing to work with the UK and other partners to address threats to regional security,” said Shaikh Khalid.
“The new base is a permanent expansion of the Royal Navy’s footprint and will enable Britain to send more and larger ships to reinforce stability in the Gulf,” said UK Defence secretary Michael Fallon. “We will now be based again in the Gulf for the long term.”
Britain’s Royal Navy has maintained a temporary base in Bahrain since 1980 but the new arrangement will allow a full-time staff to work there on a permanent basis and the base will have the capacity to cope with much larger vessels than the four minehunters currently based in Mina Salman.
The new base will be able to handle Type 45 destroyers, the most advanced attack vessels in world, said Hammond, adding that once they are built Britain will be able to send its 65,000 ton aircraft carriers to Bahrain as well.
